Detection of time division duplex downlink/uplink configuration

ABSTRACT

A user equipment (UE) in a cellular telecommunications system is able to detect the uplink/downlink configuration of a detected neighboring cell by receiving a signal from the neighboring cell. A characteristic of the received signal is detected and used as an indicator in a blind detection process to identify one or more downlink slots in the received signal. Known pilot signals in the identified one or more downlink slots can then be used to obtain a signal power measurement of the received signal. The blind detection process is also capable of detecting whether a slot of a neighboring cell&#39;s signal is a downlink unicast slot or a Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slot.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No.12/141,053, filed Jun. 17, 2008, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/025,072, filed Jan. 31, 2008, whichapplications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to cellular telecommunications, moreparticularly to cellular telecommunications employing both fullfrequency duplex (FDD) transmissions and time division duplex (TDD)transmissions, and even more particularly to methods and apparatusesthat, inter alia, enable a user equipment (UE) to determine whether thetransmissions of a neighboring cell are uplink or downlinktransmissions.

In the forthcoming evolution of the mobile cellular standards like theGlobal System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and Wideband Code DivisionMultiple Access (WCDMA), new transmission techniques like OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) are likely to occur. Furthermore,in order to have a smooth migration from the existing cellular systemsto the new high capacity high data rate system in existing radiospectrum, a new system has to be able to utilize a bandwidth of varyingsize. A proposal for such a new flexible cellular system, called ThirdGeneration Long Term Evolution (3G LTE), can be seen as an evolution ofthe 3G WCDMA standard. This system will use OFDM as the multiple accesstechnique (called OFDMA) in the downlink and will be able to operate onbandwidths ranging from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. Furthermore, data rates up toand exceeding 100 Mb/s will be supported for the largest bandwidth.However, it is expected that 3G LTE will be used not only for high rateservices, but also for low rate services like voice. Since 3G LTE isdesigned for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP),Voice over IP (VoIP) will be the service that carries speech.

Transmissions from the system that are targeted to be received by asingle user take place in what is termed a “unicast” mode of operation.Here, there is a single transmitter that communicates information to asingle intended receiver. The LTE system is, however, additionallydesigned to support broadcast/multicast services, called MultimediaBroadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS).

The provisioning of broadcast/multicast services in a mobilecommunication system allows the same information to be simultaneouslyprovided to multiple, often a large number of, mobile terminals, oftendispersed over a large area corresponding to a large number of cells.FIG. 1 illustrates this point by showing a broadcast area 101 thatcomprises a number of cells 103. The broadcast/multicast information maybe a TV news clip, information about the local weather conditions,stock-market information, or any other kind of information that, at agiven time instant, may be of interest to a large number of users.

When the same information is to be provided to multiple mobile terminalswithin a cell it is often beneficial to provide this information as asingle “broadcast” radio transmission covering the entire cell andsimultaneously being received by all relevant mobile terminals ratherthan providing the information by means of individual transmissions toeach mobile terminal (i.e., plural unicast transmissions).

As a broadcast transmission within a cell has to be dimensioned tooperate under worst-case conditions (e.g., it needs to be able to reachmobile terminals at the cell border even though other mobile terminalsmay be quite close to the transmitter antenna), it can be relativelycostly in terms of the resources (base station transmit power) needed toprovide a given broadcast-service data rate. Alternatively, taking intoaccount the limited signal-to-noise ratio that can be achieved at poorareas of reception within the cell (e.g. the cell edge), the achievablebroadcast data rates may be relatively limited, especially when largecells are involved. One way to increase the broadcast data rates wouldthen be to reduce the cell size, thereby increasing the power of thereceived signal at the cell's edge. However, such an approach wouldincrease the number of cells needed to cover a certain area and wouldthus obviously be undesirable from a cost-of-deployment point-of-view.

However, as discussed above, the provisioning of broadcast/multicastservices in a mobile communication network typically occurs whenidentical information is to be provided over a large number of cells. Insuch cases, the resources (e.g., base-station transmit power) needed toprovide a desired broadcast data rate can be considerably reduced if,when detecting/decoding the broadcast data, mobile terminals at the celledge can utilize the received power from multiple broadcasttransmissions emanating from multiple cells.

One way to achieve this is to ensure that the broadcast transmissionsfrom different cells are truly identical and transmitted mutuallytime-aligned. Under these conditions, the transmissions received by userequipment (UE) (e.g., a mobile terminal) from multiple cells will appearas a single transmission subject to severe multi-path propagation. Thetransmission of identical time-aligned signals from multiple cells,especially when utilized to provide broadcast/multicast services, issometimes referred to as Single-Frequency-Network (SFN) operation orMulticast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) operation.

When multiple cells transmit such identical time-aligned signals, the UEno longer experiences “inter-cell interference” from its neighbor cells,but instead experiences signal corruption due to time dispersion. If thebroadcast transmission is based on OFDM with a cyclic prefix that coversthe main part of this “time dispersion”, the achievable broadcast datarates are thus only limited by noise, implying that, especially insmaller cells, very high broadcast data rates can be achieved.Furthermore, the OFDM receiver does not need to explicitly identify thecells to be soft combined. Rather, all cells whose transmissions fallwithin the cyclic prefix will “automatically” contribute to the power ofthe UE's received signal.

In each of the unicast and multicast modes, the LTE physical layerdownlink transmission is based on OFDM. The basic LTE downlink physicalresource can thus be seen as a time-frequency grid as illustrated inFIG. 2, in which each so-called “resource element” corresponds to oneOFDM subcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the downlink subcarriers in the frequencydomain are grouped into resource blocks, where each resource blockconsists of twelve consecutive subcarriers for a duration of one 0.5 msslot (7 OFDM symbols when normal cyclic prefixes are used (asillustrated) or 6 OFDM symbols when extended cyclic prefixes are used),corresponding to a nominal resource-block bandwidth of 180 kHz.

The total number of downlink subcarriers, including a DC-subcarrier,thus equals N_(c)=12·N_(RB)+1 where N_(RB) is the maximum number ofresource blocks that can be formed from the 12·N_(RB) usablesubcarriers. The LTE physical-layer specification actually allows for adownlink carrier to consist of any number of resource blocks, rangingfrom N_(RB-min)=6 and upwards, corresponding to a nominal transmissionbandwidth ranging from around 1.25 MHz up to 20 MHz. This allows for avery high degree of LTE bandwidth/spectrum flexibility, at least from aphysical-layer-specification point-of-view.

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b illustrate the time-domain structure for LTE downlinktransmission. Each 1 ms subframe 400 consists of two slots of lengthT_(slot)=0.5 ms (=15360·T_(S), wherein each slot comprises 15,360 timeunits, T_(S)). Each slot then consists of a number of OFDM symbols.

A subcarrier spacing Δf=15 kHz corresponds to a useful symbol timeT_(u)=1/Δf≈66.7 μps (2048·T_(S)). The overall OFDM symbol time is thenthe sum of the useful symbol time and the cyclic prefix length T_(CP).Two cyclic prefix lengths are defined. FIG. 4 a illustrates a normalcyclic prefix length, which allows seven OFDM symbols per slot to becommunicated. The length of a normal cyclic prefix, T_(CP), is160·T_(S)≈5.1 μs for the first OFDM symbol of the slot, and144·T_(S)≈4.7 μs for the remaining OFDM symbols.

FIG. 4 b illustrates an extended cyclic prefix, which because of itslonger size, allows only six OFDM symbols per slot to be communicated.The length of an extended cyclic prefix, T_(CP-e), is 512·T_(S)≈16.7 μs.

It will be observed that, in the case of the normal cyclic prefix, thecyclic prefix length for the first OFDM symbol of a slot is somewhatlarger than those for the remaining OFDM symbols. The reason for this issimply to fill out the entire 0.5 ms slot, as the number of time unitsper slot, T_(S), (15360) is not evenly divisible by seven.

When the downlink time-domain structure of a resource block is takeninto account (i.e., the use of 12 subcarriers during a 0.5 ms slot), itwill be seen that each resource block consists of 12·7=84 resourceelements for the case of normal cyclic prefix (illustrated in FIGS. 3),and 12·6=72 resource elements for the case of the extended cyclic prefix(not shown).

Another important aspect of a terminal's operation is mobility, whichincludes cell search, synchronization, and signal power measurementprocedures. Cell search is the procedure by which the terminal finds acell to which it can potentially connect. As part of the cell searchprocedure, the terminal obtains the identity of the cell and estimatesthe frame timing of the identified cell. The cell search procedure alsoprovides estimates of parameters essential for reception of systeminformation on the broadcast channel, containing the remainingparameters required for accessing the system.

To avoid complicated cell planning, the number of physical layer cellidentities should be sufficiently large. For example, systems inaccordance with the LTE standards support 504 different cell identities.These 504 different cell identities are divided into 168 groups of threeidentities each.

In order to reduce the cell-search complexity, cell search for LTE istypically done in several steps that make up a process that is similarto the three-step cell-search procedure of WCDMA. To assist the terminalin this procedure, LTE provides a primary synchronization signal and asecondary synchronization signal on the downlink. This is illustrated inFIG. 5, which illustrates the structure of the radio interface of an LTEsystem. The physical layer of an LTE system includes a generic radioframe 500 having a duration of 10 ms. FIG. 5 illustrates one such frame500 for an LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system. Each frame has 20slots (numbered 0 through 19), each slot having a duration of 0.5 mswhich normally consists of seven OFDM symbols. A subframe is made up oftwo adjacent slots, and therefore has a duration of 1 ms, normallyconsisting of 14 OFDM symbols. The primary and secondary synchronizationsignals are specific sequences, inserted into the last two OFDM symbolsin the first slot of each of subframes 0 and 5. In addition to thesynchronization signals, part of the operation of the cell searchprocedure also exploits reference signals that are transmitted at knownlocations in the transmitted signal.

Furthermore, LTE is defined to be able to operate in both FDD mode aswell as in Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode. Within one carrier, thedifferent subframes of a frame can either be used for downlinktransmission of for uplink transmission. FIG. 6 a illustrates the casefor FDD operation, wherein pairs of the radiofrequency spectrum areallocated to users, one part for uplink transmissions, and the otherpart for downlink transmissions. In this operation, all subframes of acarrier are used for either downlink transmission (a downlink carrier)or for uplink transmission (an uplink carrier).

By comparison, FIG. 6 b illustrates the case for TDD operation. It willbe observed that in this operation, the first and sixth subframe of eachframe (i.e., subframes 0 and 5) are always assigned for downlinktransmission, while the remaining subframes can be flexibly assigned tobe used for either downlink or uplink transmission. The reason for thepredefined assignment of the first and sixth subframe for downlinktransmission is that these subframes include the LTE synchronizationsignals. The synchronization signals are transmitted on the downlink ofeach cell and, as explained earlier, are intended to be used for initialcell search as well as for neighbor-cell search.

FIG. 6 b also illustrates the flexibility that LTE provides in assigninguplink and downlink subframes during TDD operation. This flexibilityallows for different asymmetries in terms of the amount of radioresources (subframes) assigned for downlink and uplink transmission,respectively. For example, an approximately symmetric carrier 601 can becreated, as can an asymmetric carrier with a downlink focus 603 (i.e.,more downlink subframes than uplink subframes), and an asymmetriccarrier with an uplink focus 605 (i.e., more uplink subframes thandownlink subframes).

As the subframe assignment needs to be the same for neighbor cells inorder to avoid severe interference between downlink and uplinktransmissions between the cells, the downlink/uplink asymmetry cannotvary dynamically on, for example, a frame-by-frame basis. However, itcan be changed on a slower basis to, for example, match differenttraffic characteristics such as differences and variations in thedownlink/uplink traffic asymmetry.

In LTE, a measure of the Reference Signal Received Power RSRP is usedfor handover measurements. This means that the mobile terminal needs tomeasure RSRP on the serving cell as well as on those neighboring cellsthat have been detected by the cell search. RSRP is defined as theaverage signal power of the Node B's transmitted (i.e., downlink)Reference Symbols or Signals (RS). The RSs are transmitted from the NodeB from each of possibly 1, 2 or 4 transmit antennas, on certain resourceelements (RE) in the time-frequency grid. For example, in LTE theresource elements are transmitted on every sixth subcarrier in OFDMsymbol number 0 and in either symbol number 3 (when long CPs are used)or symbol number 4 (when short CPs are used) in every slot (consistingof either 6 or 7 OFDM symbols, depending on whether long or short CPsare being used). Furthermore, the RS in symbol number 3/4 is offset bythree subcarriers relative to the RS in the first OFDM symbol.

In order to arrive at an RSRP measurement that is truly representativeof the signal conditions, the UE needs to average a number ofmeasurements obtained over a number of slots (and subframes). For FDDoperation, this can easily be done because the downlink and uplinktransmissions occur on separate carriers, and hence all subframes of thedownlink carriers can be used for generating an RSRP estimate.

However, for TDD operation, the uplink and downlink transmissions sharethe same carrier frequency, so not all of the subframes can be used. Tocomplicate matters, the uplink/downlink configuration for differentneighboring cells could—in the general case—be different. Theuplink/downlink configuration of a newly detected cell (i.e., a cellthat has just been detected as a potential handover candidate by thecell search procedure) is, at the time of detection, unknown to the UE.This information is conventionally first made known to the UE at thetime of handover to that cell.

Accordingly, the UE is conventionally required to rely on RSstransmitted in only those subframes that are guaranteed to be associatedwith downlink transmissions (e.g., synchronization subframes 0 and 5 inLTE, as illustrated in FIG. 6 b). Being limited to the RSs from onlythese slots results in a noisy RSRP (or similar) measurement, so longeraveraging time is needed to generate a useful value, thereby delayingthe handover procedure.

However, in a typical TDD uplink/downlink configuration, there are moredownlink subframes than just the synchronization subframes. Asuper-frame in LTE is 10 ms divided into ten 1 ms subframes, two ofwhich are sync subframes (see, e.g., FIG. 5). Typically, theuplink/downlink configuration is 40/60 or even 30/70, so there areactually more downlink subframes (and hence more RS s) available thanjust the RSs included in the synchronization subframes (corresponding toa downlink/uplink allocation of 20/80).

Therefore there is a need for methods and apparatuses that are able todetect the uplink/downlink configuration in TDD operation forneighboring cells at the time those cells are first detected, in orderto improve the RSRP (or similar) measurement performance.

SUMMARY

It should be emphasized that the terms “comprises” and “comprising”,when used in this specification, are taken to specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps or components; but the use of theseterms does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more otherfeatures, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the foregoingand other objects are achieved in methods and apparatuses that operatinga user equipment (UE) in a cellular telecommunications system. Suchoperation includes receiving a signal from a neighboring cell anddetecting a characteristic of the received signal. The detectedcharacteristic is used as an indicator in a blind detection process toidentify one or more downlink slots in the received signal. Known pilotsignals in the identified one or more downlink slots are then used toobtain a signal power measurement of the received signal.

In some embodiments, the detected characteristic is a detected frequencydomain power profile, and the blind detection process comprisescomparing the detected frequency domain power profile with at least oneof a nominal downlink power profile and a nominal uplink power profile.

In alternative embodiments, the detected characteristic is a detectedreceived signal strength indicator (RSSI), and the blind detectionprocess comprises, for each of one or more OFDM symbols, comparing thedetected RSSI with at least one of a nominal downlink RSSI power profileand a nominal uplink RSSI power profile.

In still other alternative embodiments, the detected characteristic is adetected information content of resource elements of the received signalknown to be reference symbol resource elements in a downlink subframe,wherein each resource element is defined by subcarrier frequency andtime of occurrence; and the blind detection process comprisescorrelating the detected information content with information content ofone or more known reference symbols.

In still other alternative embodiments, the detected characteristic is adetected automatic gain control setting used to receive the receivedsignal; and the blind detection process comprises comparing the detectedautomatic gain control setting with an automatic gain control setting ofa known downlink slot.

The various blind detection processes are also useful for identifyingwhether a slot of a neighboring cell's signal is a downlink unicast slotor a Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slot. With thisknowledge, a user equipment can use known pilot signals in theidentified one or more downlink unicast slots to obtain a signal powermeasurement of the received signal. In some, but not necessarily all,embodiments, the user equipment can additionally use cell-specific pilotsignals in Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots to obtainthe signal power measurement of the received signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects and advantages of the invention will be understood byreading the following detailed description in conjunction with thedrawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a broadcast area that comprises a number oftelecommunication system cells.

FIG. 2 illustrates a time-frequency grid an exemplary LTE downlinkphysical resource (“resource element”) that corresponds to one OFDMsubcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval.

FIG. 3 is a time-frequency grid illustrating how downlink subcarriers inthe frequency domain are grouped into resource blocks.

FIG. 4 a illustrates a so-called “normal” cyclic prefix length, whichallows seven OFDM symbols per slot to be communicated.

FIG. 4 b illustrates an extended cyclic prefix, which because of itslonger size, allows only six OFDM symbols per slot to be communicated.

FIG. 5 illustrates the structure of the radio interface of an LTEsystem.

FIG. 6 a illustrates a signal timing diagram for the case of FDDoperation, wherein pairs of the radiofrequency spectrum are allocated tousers, one part for uplink transmissions, and the other part fordownlink transmissions.

FIG. 6 b illustrates a signal timing diagram for the case of TDDoperation.

FIG. 7 a is a signal timing diagram of an exemplary downlink subframe inan LTE mobile communication system.

FIG. 7 b is a graph of downlink average power for the two slots of FIG.7 a plotted as a function of time.

FIG. 7 c depicts two uplink data transmissions of an exemplary LTEsystem uplink subframe.

FIG. 7 d is a graph of average power for the time period depicted inFIG. 7 c plotted as a function of time.

FIG. 8 is, in one respect, a flowchart of exemplary steps/processesperformed in a UE in accordance with embodiments consistent with theinvention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary UE adapted to carry outvarious aspects of the invention.

FIG. 10 is, in one respect, a flowchart of steps/processes carried outin a UE in accordance with embodiments in which a blind detectionprocess relies on a frequency-domain power profile of a received signal.

FIG. 11 is, in one respect, a flowchart of steps/processes carried outin a UE in accordance with embodiments in which a blind detectionprocess relies on the contents of resource elements that could beconveying reference symbols.

FIG. 12 is, in one respect, a flowchart of steps/processes carried outin a UE in accordance with embodiments in which a blind detectionprocess relies on AGC settings in the receiver.

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary MBSFN resource element transmitted on anantenna port over the course of two sequential slots.

FIG. 14 is, in one respect, a flowchart of exemplary steps/processesperformed in a UE in accordance with embodiments that enable the UE todetect whether slots of a neighboring cell's signal are downlink unicastslots or MBSFN slots.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The various features of the invention will now be described withreference to the figures, in which like parts are identified with thesame reference characters.

The various aspects of the invention will now be described in greaterdetail in connection with a number of exemplary embodiments. Tofacilitate an understanding of the invention, many aspects of theinvention are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performedby elements of a computer system or other hardware capable of executingprogrammed instructions. It will be recognized that in each of theembodiments, the various actions could be performed by specializedcircuits (e.g., discrete logic gates interconnected to perform aspecialized function), by program instructions being executed by one ormore processors, or by a combination of both. Moreover, the inventioncan additionally be considered to be embodied entirely within any formof computer readable carrier, such as solid-state memory, magnetic disk,or optical disk containing an appropriate set of computer instructionsthat would cause a processor to carry out the techniques describedherein. Thus, the various aspects of the invention may be embodied inmany different forms, and all such forms are contemplated to be withinthe scope of the invention. For each of the various aspects of theinvention, any such form of embodiments may be referred to herein as“logic configured to” perform a described action, or alternatively as“logic that” performs a described action.

In an aspect of embodiments consistent with the invention, a blinddetection process is used to detect the uplink/downlink configuration ofa detected neighboring cell. Different embodiments utilize knowledgethat the uplink transmission technology differs from that of downlinktransmissions. For example, in an LTE system, uplink transmissionsutilize Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), whereas downlink transmissionsrely on OFDM. This means that the signals associated with uplink slots(and subframes) will differ from those associated with downlink slots(and subframes). Hence, the UE can for example distinguish betweenuplink and downlink transmissions by correlating a received signal'sfrequency domain power profile (per sub-carrier and OFDM symbol) to atypical frequency domain power profile pattern of a downlinktransmission to detect whether the slot/subframe is uplink or downlink.

In an alternative embodiment, correlation only to the average powerprofile per OFDM symbol (over subframe) is made.

In yet another embodiment, correlation to the potential positions ofdownlink RSs can be done in order to detect the DL subframes.

In yet another embodiment, AGC settings in the front end receiver can beused for detection of UL and DL subframes.

Once the uplink/downlink configuration of the detected cell has beendetected by any of the blind detection techniques, the UE can utilizemore downlink RSs for estimating the cell signal power (e.g., the RSRP).

In other alternatives, blind detection techniques can also determinewhether DL subframes or MBSFN subframes have been detected.

These and other aspects are described in detail in the following.

FIG. 7 a is a signal timing diagram of an exemplary downlink subframe (1ms, divided into two downlink slots) in an LTE mobile communicationsystem. Included within this subframe are REs that are used forconveying RS for transmit antenna 1 (denoted “R” in the figure) and alsoREs that are used for conveying RSs associated with a potential transmitantenna 2 (denoted “S” in the figure). Also shown in the FIG. 7 a arethe positions in which control information (denoted “C” in the figure)is sent. It will be observed that the control information iscommunicated in only the first 1, 2, or 3 OFDM symbols of each subframe,whereas the RSs are present in both slots. The rest of the REs are, forthe most part, allocated to data transmission.

Typically a cell is not fully loaded. Therefore, only a fraction of thedata REs are non-empty. To illustrate this point, a first shaded groupof REs 701 in FIG. 7 a represents a first data transmission, and asecond shaded group of REs 703 represents a second data transmission.Remaining data REs are unused in this example.

FIG. 7 b is a graph of downlink average power for the two slots of FIG.7 a plotted as a function of time. Since the RSs as well as parts of thecontrol signaling are always transmitted, the Received Signal PowerIndicator (RSSI) is different for different OFDM symbols. Typically, theOFDM symbols 0 and 1 (which contain control information as well as RSs)have the largest power, the OFDM symbols containing RSs but not controlinformation have slightly lower average power, and the OFDM symbolshaving only data information on average have the lowest power.

The situation is different in the uplink direction when differentmodulation technology is used. For example, in an LTE system, SC-FDMA isused for uplink transmissions. The data and control, which are sent on aphysical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and a physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH) respectively, are sent on separate resource blocks.Consequently, a UE transmitting data utilizes allocated frequenciescontinuously for at least an amount of time corresponding to onesubframe (i.e., 2 slots). FIG. 7 c depicts two data transmissions 705and 707 to illustrate this point. UEs transmitting only controlinformation (e.g., ACK/NACK of downlink blocks) have a consecutivetime-frequency block at the end of the system BW. FIG. 7 c depicts twocontrol signaling transmissions 709 and 711 to illustrate this point.

FIG. 7 d is a graph of average power for the time period depicted inFIG. 7 c plotted as a function of time. Because of the continuous natureof the transmissions, the frequency domain power profile is more evenlyspread over the subframe. In an aspect of some embodiments consistentwith the invention, this property is used to enable a UE detect whetherthe received signal of a detected cell corresponds to a downlink or anuplink subframe.

FIG. 8 is, in one respect, a flowchart of exemplary steps/processesperformed in a UE in accordance with embodiments consistent with theinvention. In another respect, FIG. 8 can be considered to be a blockdiagram of a UE 800 comprising logic configured to perform the variouslydescribed functions. It is assumed at the start that the UE is connectedto a serving cell and is searching for TDD neighboring cells. Theneighboring cell could be operating on either an intra-frequency (i.e.,the same carrier frequency as the serving cell) or an inter-frequency,(i.e., a different carrier frequency than is used by the serving cell).In the case of inter-frequency operation, the UE typically makes itsmeasurements during time instances in which the serving cell's datareception has been interrupted.

The UE uses any of a number of known search algorithms to discover aneighboring cell (“YES” path out of decision block 801). The particularsearch algorithm employed for this purpose is outside the scope of theinvention.

Once a neighbor cell has been detected, a signal from that neighbor cellis received (step 803). A characteristic of the received signal isdetected (step 805) and then used as an indicator in a blind detectionprocess to identify one or more downlink slots in the received signal(step 807). The particular characteristic detected will depend on thetype of blind detection process employed. These aspects are described ingreater detail below.

Having identified one or more downlink slots, known pilot signal inthese downlink slots are used to obtain a signal power (or similar)measurement of the received signal (step 809).

A block diagram of a UE 900 adapted to carry out various aspects of theinvention is shown in FIG. 9. It will be appreciated that the functionalblocks depicted in FIG. 9 can be combined and re-arranged in a varietyof equivalent ways, and that the many of the functions can be performedby one or more suitably programmed digital signal processors.

As depicted in FIG. 9, a UE 900 has an antenna 901 that is shared byreceiver circuitry as well as by transmitter circuitry 902. As thevarious aspects of the invention are primarily concerned with receiveroperation, the transmitter circuitry 902 is not described here indetail.

When a switch 903 is in a receive position, the UE 900 receives adownlink radio signal through the antenna 901 and typicallydown-converts the received radio signal to an analog baseband signal ina front end receiver (Fe RX) 905. For this purpose, the front endreceiver 905 is supplied with a locally-generated carrier frequency,f_(c). The baseband signal is spectrally shaped by an analog filter 907that has a bandwidth BW₀, and the shaped baseband signal generated bythe filter 907 is gain corrected by automatic gain control (AGC)circuitry 909. The gain corrected signal is then converted from analogto digital form by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 911.

The digitized baseband signal is further spectrally shaped by a digitalfilter 913 that has a bandwidth BW_(sync), which corresponds tobandwidth of the synchronization signals or symbols included in thedownlink signal. The shaped signal generated by the filter 913 isprovided to a cell search unit 915 that carries out one or more methodsof searching for cells as specified for the particular communicationsystem (e.g., 3G LTE). Typically, such methods involve detectingpredetermined primary and/or secondary synchronization channel (P/S-SCH)signals in the received signal as described earlier.

The digitized baseband signal is also provided by the ADC 911 to adigital filter 917 that has the bandwidth BW₀, and the filtered digitalbaseband signal is provided to a processor 919 that implements a FastFourier Transform (FFT) or other suitable algorithm that generates afrequency-domain (spectral) representation of the baseband signal. Thecell search unit 915 exchanges suitable timing signals with theprocessor 919 for each candidate cell; that is, for each cell whosesignal power (e.g., RSRP) will be measured.

The frequency-domain samples are also fed to a correlation unit 923 thatcorrelates the samples to either (a) the known downlink RS positions or(b) a typical downlink (sub-carrier) power profile or RSSI pattern asdescribed in greater detail below. The output from the correlation unit921 is then fed to a control unit (CU) 923 that, based on thecorrelation result, detects which subframes are downlink and which onesare uplink. That information (i.e., the number and position of downlinksubframes) is then fed to a channel estimation unit 925 (and FFT 919).

The cell search unit 915 also provides cell identifications and REscorresponding to RSs for each candidate cell i to the channel estimationunit 925, which also receives timing signals from the processor 919 and,using the knowledge of which subframes are downlink subframes, generatesa channel estimate H_(j) ^(i) for each of several subcarriers j and anestimate of the signal power (e.g., RSRP, S^(i)) for the candidate celli.

The channel estimation unit 925 provides the channel estimates H_(j)^(i) to a symbol detector 927. The detected symbols are then madeavailable for further processing in the UE (not shown). The powerestimates generated by the channel estimation unit 925 are typicallyalso used in further signal processing in the UE.

The blind uplink/downlink detection can take any of a number ofembodiments. These are described in the following text.

In an aspect of some embodiments, a frequency domain power profile isthe characteristic upon which blind detection is made. FIG. 10 is, inone respect, a flowchart of steps/processes carried out in a UE inaccordance with these embodiments. In another respect, FIG. 10 can alsobe considered to be a block diagram of a UE 1000 having logic configuredto perform the various described processes/steps. Two differentapproaches can be used in these embodiments. The first—and less complexone—is to correlate a received subframe with the average power (totalRSSI) per OFDM symbol. That is, a power profile of each OFDM symbol ismeasured (step 1001) and correlated with a nominal (e.g., typical)downlink power profile (step 1003), as illustrated in FIG. 7 b. Thecorrelation can be made over one subframe. To improve performance, theprofile can (but doesn't have to be) averaged over a number ofsubframes. The resulting correlation value is compared to a threshold(decision block 1005). If the correlation value is above the threshold(YES path out of decision block 1005), then a downlink subframe has beendetected, otherwise (NO path out of decision block 1005) an uplinksubframe has been detected. The threshold could, for example, be derivedfrom the power profile for the synchronization subframe (i.e., asubframe known to be a downlink subframe for the UE). Further processing(not shown) proceeds according to whether an uplink or downlink subframewas detected.

Equivalently, instead of correlating the OFDM symbol with a nominaldownlink power profile, it is instead correlated with a nominal (e.g.,typical) uplink power profile, as illustrated in FIG. 7 d. Thecorrelation value exceeding the threshold value in this case indicatesthat an uplink subframe has been detected. Otherwise, the subframe is adownlink subframe.

An alternative embodiment involves a more complicated variant, in whichthe correlation is made over each sub-carrier. Hence, for each OFDMsymbol the power per sub-carrier is estimated and correlated to atypical power profile, which now has two dimensions, namely time andfrequency. Again the correlation is compared to a threshold, asdescribed above, in order to determine whether the analyzed signal isassociated with an uplink or a downlink subframe.

In an aspect of some alternative embodiments, the REs that could beconveying RSs serve as the characteristic upon which blind detection ismade. FIG. 11 is, in one respect, a flowchart of steps/processes carriedout in a UE in accordance with these embodiments. In another respect,FIG. 11 can also be considered to be a block diagram of a UE 1100 havinglogic configured to perform the various described processes/steps. Usingthis detection approach, the UE 1100 descrambles the REs (withscrambling code corresponding to the cell ID for the neighboring cell)that—in the case of a downlink subframe—are RSs (step 1101). Thedescrambled REs are then correlated with the nominal RS pattern (step1103). The correlation value is then compared with a threshold (decisionblock 1105). If the correlation value exceeds the threshold value (YESpath out of decision block 1105), the subframe is considered to be adownlink subframe. Otherwise (NO path out of decision block 1105), thesubframe is considered to be an uplink subframe. Further processing (notshown) proceeds according to whether an uplink or downlink subframe wasdetected.

In an aspect of some other alternative embodiments, the AGC settings inthe receiver serve as the characteristic upon which blind detection ismade. FIG. 12 is, in one respect, a flowchart of steps/processes carriedout in a UE in accordance with these embodiments. In another respect,FIG. 12 can also be considered to be a block diagram of a UE 1200 havinglogic configured to perform the various described processes/steps.

A principle upon which these embodiments operate is that uplinksubframes can consist of a signal with low signal power, for example asa result of no uplink transmission taking place at all or due to atransmitting UE being far away from the UE 1200 trying to receive thesignal (and measure the signal power). In both of these cases, thereceived signal power in such a subframe is small compared to that of adownlink subframe. In case the transmitting UE is close to the UE 1200trying to receive the signal, the input signal will be very strongrelative the strength of a signal associated with a downlink subframe.Since the UE 1200, once it has detected the neighboring cell, alwaysknows at least some of the downlink subframes (i.e., those subframesthat are used for downlink transmissions regardless of UL/DLconfiguration), the UE 1200 can compare the AGC settings of an unknownsubframe with those associated with a known downlink subframe. If thecomparison reveals a large enough difference, this can be taken as anindicator of an uplink subframe; otherwise, the unknown subframe can beconsidered a downlink subframe. Such information could also, in someembodiments be used for determining the UL/DL subframe configuration.

Thus, in accordance with these embodiments the UE 1200 determines theAGC settings of one or more known downlink subframes (step 1201). Next,the AGC settings of a candidate “unknown” subframe are compared withthose of the known down subframe(s) (step 1203). If the comparison showslarge differences (YES path out of decision block 1205), then thecandidate subframe is considered to be an uplink subframe. Otherwise (NOpath out of decision block 1205), the candidate subframe is consideredto be a downlink subframe. For example, if the AGC settings differ bymore than a factor of 5 (7 dB) or so, then it is reasonable to assumethe presence of an uplink rather than a downlink subframe. Hence, if anAGC setting is x for a known downlink subframe, an uplink subframe canbe considered to be detected if the AGC setting is below 0.2x or above5x.

Further processing (not shown) proceeds according to whether an uplinkor downlink subframe was detected.

Various aspects of embodiments consistent with the invention have beendescribed in terms of detection of downlink subframes on a TDDneighboring cell. However, the blind detection techniques can also beapplied to other scenarios. One such scenario is MBSFN operation, inwhich some of the downlink subframes are allocated to broadcast use.These downlink subframes have a slightly different structure relative toordinary unicast subframes. This difference is illustrated in FIG. 13,which depicts an exemplary MBSFN resource element transmitted on antennaport 4 over the course of two sequential slots. It will be recalled thatin MBSFN operation, synchronous multi-cell multicast/broadcasttransmission is made to appear as a single transmission over amulti-path channel. To accommodate the larger propagation delays (i.e.,a UE receives transmissions not only from a nearest NodeB, but also fromneighboring NodeBs), an extended CP is used. Hence, each slot has onlysix OFDM symbols instead of the seven normally present in unicastoperation.

Channel estimation for coherent demodulation of an MBSFN transmissioncannot directly rely on the “normal” cell-specific reference signals(R_(CS)) described earlier, since these reference signals are nottransmitted by means of MBSFN and thus do not reflect the aggregatedMBSFN channel. Instead, additional reference symbols (R₄) are insertedwithin MBSFN subframes, as illustrated in FIG. 13. These referencesymbols are transmitted by means of MBSFN; that is, identical referencesymbols (the same complex value within the same resource element) aretransmitted by all cells involved in the MBSFN transmission. Thecorresponding received reference signal can thus directly be used forestimation of the aggregated MBSFN channel, enabling coherentdemodulation of the MBSFN transmission.

Although there is no need to transmit downlink L1/L2 control signalingrelated to Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) transmission in MBSFNsubframes, there may nonetheless be other downlink L1/L2 controlsignaling to be transmitted in MBSFN subframes (e.g., scheduling grantsfor UL-SCH transmission). Consequently, normal cell-specific referencesignals (R_(CS)) also need to be transmitted within the MBSFN subframes,in parallel with the MBSFN-based reference signal. However, since theL1/L2 control signaling is confined to the first part of the subframe,only the cell-specific reference symbols within the first OFDM symbol ofthe subframe (as well as the second OFDM symbol of the subframe in caseof four transmit antennas) are transmitted within MBSFN subframes, asshown in FIG. 13.

As a result of this arrangement, MBSFN subframes have fewer RSs that canbe used for RSRP measurements (i.e., only those found in the first OFDMsymbol per subframe). Aside from knowing that in MBSFN there are alwaystwo synchronization subframes having cell-specific reference symbols, aUE doesn't know the exact number and position of ordinary and MBSFNsubframes in a neighboring cell. This uncertainty causes a problem for aUE that wants to make power measurements of cell-specific referencesignals of a neighboring cell.

Aspects of the invention address this problem in that similar approachesas those described above (e.g., correlation to the RS positions for anordinary DL subframe) can be used to detect which subframes are MBSFNsubframes and which are not. The RSRP measurement can consequently beadapted to the detected number of ordinary subframes. Also note that,with respect to MBSFN operation, the various aspects of the inventionare applicable to both LTE FDD and TDD mode.

FIG. 14 is, in one respect, a flowchart of exemplary steps/processesperformed in a UE in accordance with embodiments consistent with theinvention. In another respect, FIG. 14 can be considered to be a blockdiagram of a UE 1400 comprising logic configured to perform thevariously described functions. It is assumed at the start that the UE isconnected to a serving cell and is searching for TDD or FDD neighboringcells. The neighboring cell could be operating on either anintra-frequency (i.e., the same carrier frequency as the serving cell)or an inter-frequency, (i.e., a different carrier frequency than is usedby the serving cell). In the case of inter-frequency operation, the UEtypically makes its measurements during time instances in which theserving cell's data reception has been interrupted.

The UE uses any of a number of known search algorithms to discover aneighboring cell (“YES” path out of decision block 1401). The particularsearch algorithm employed for this purpose is outside the scope of theinvention.

Once a neighbor cell has been detected, a signal from that neighbor cellis received (step 1403). A characteristic of the received signal isdetected (step 1405) and then used as an indicator in a blind detectionprocess to identify one or more downlink unicast slots (oralternatively, MBSFN slots) in the received signal (step 1407). Theparticular characteristic detected will depend on the type of blinddetection process employed. These aspects are described in detail above.

Having identified one or more downlink unicast slots, known pilot signalin these downlink slots are used to obtain a signal power (or similar)measurement of the received signal (step 1409). In some, but notnecessarily all embodiments, cell-specific RSs from the MBSFN subframesare also used in the RSRP estimation.

The invention has been described with reference to particularembodiments. However, it will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art that it is possible to embody the invention in specific formsother than those of the embodiment described above. The describedembodiments are merely illustrative and should not be consideredrestrictive in any way. The scope of the invention is given by theappended claims, rather than the preceding description, and allvariations and equivalents which fall within the range of the claims areintended to be embraced therein.

1-3. (canceled)
 4. A method of operating a user equipment (UE) in acellular telecommunications system, the method comprising: receiving asignal from a neighboring cell; detecting a characteristic of thereceived signal; using the detected characteristic as an indicator in ablind detection process that relies on characteristic differencesbetween uplink and downlink slots to identify one or more downlink slotsin the received signal; and using known pilot signals in the identifiedone or more downlink slots to obtain a signal power measurement of thereceived signal, wherein: the detected characteristic is a detectedinformation content of resource elements of the received signal known tobe reference symbol resource elements in a downlink subframe, whereineach resource element is defined by subcarrier frequency and time ofoccurrence; and the blind detection process comprises correlating thedetected information content with information content of one or moreknown reference symbols.
 5. A method of operating a user equipment (UE)in a cellular telecommunications system, the method comprising:receiving a signal from a neighboring cell; detecting a characteristicof the received signal; using the detected characteristic as anindicator in a blind detection process that relies on characteristicdifferences between uplink and downlink slots to identify one or moredownlink slots in the received signal; and using known pilot signals inthe identified one or more downlink slots to obtain a signal powermeasurement of the received signal, wherein: the detected characteristicis a detected automatic gain control setting used to receive thereceived signal; and the blind detection process comprises comparing thedetected automatic gain control setting with an automatic gain controlsetting of a known downlink slot. 6-8. (canceled)
 9. A method ofoperating a user equipment (UE) in a cellular telecommunications systemhaving a radio interface that comprises a plurality of downlink slots ofwhich some of the plurality of downlink slots are downlink unicast slotsand some of the plurality of downlink slots are Multicast-BroadcastSingle Frequency Network slots, the method comprising: receiving asignal from a neighboring cell during one or more of the plurality ofdownlink slots; detecting a characteristic of the received signal; usingthe detected characteristic as an indicator in a blind detection processthat relies on characteristic differences between the downlink unicastslots and the Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots toidentify one or more of the downlink unicast slots that may be presentin the one or more of the downlink slots; and in response to the one ormore identified downlink unicast slots being identified in the one ormore of the plurality of downlink slots, using known pilot signals inthe one or more identified downlink unicast slots to obtain a signalpower measurement of the received signal, wherein: the detectedcharacteristic is a detected information content of resource elements ofthe received signal known to be reference symbol resource elements in adownlink subframe, wherein each resource element is defined bysubcarrier frequency and time of occurrence; and the blind detectionprocess comprises correlating the detected information content withinformation content of one or more known reference symbols.
 10. A methodof operating a user equipment (UE) in a cellular telecommunicationssystem having a radio interface that comprises a plurality of downlinkslots of which some of the plurality of downlink slots are downlinkunicast slots and some of the plurality of downlink slots areMulticast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots, the methodcomprising: receiving a signal from a neighboring cell during one ormore of the plurality of downlink slots; detecting a characteristic ofthe received signal; using the detected characteristic as an indicatorin a blind detection process that relies on characteristic differencesbetween the downlink unicast slots and the Multicast-Broadcast SingleFrequency Network slots to identify one or more of the downlink unicastslots that may be present in the one or more of the downlink slots; andin response to the one or more identified downlink unicast slots beingidentified in the one or more of the plurality of downlink slots, usingknown pilot signals in the one or more identified downlink unicast slotsto obtain a signal power measurement of the received signal, wherein:the detected characteristic is a detected automatic gain control settingused to receive the received signal; and the blind detection processcomprises comparing the detected automatic gain control setting with anautomatic gain control setting of a known downlink slot.
 11. A method ofoperating a user equipment (UE) in a cellular telecommunications systemhaving a radio interface that comprises a plurality of downlink slots ofwhich some of the plurality of downlink slots are downlink unicast slotsand some of the plurality of downlink slots are Multicast-BroadcastSingle Frequency Network slots, the method comprising: receiving asignal from a neighboring cell during one or more of the plurality ofdownlink slots; detecting a characteristic of the received signal; usingthe detected characteristic as an indicator in a blind detection processthat relies on characteristic differences between the downlink unicastslots and the Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots toidentify one or more of the downlink unicast slots that may be presentin the one or more of the downlink slots; and in response to the one ormore identified downlink unicast slots being identified in the one ormore of the plurality of downlink slots, using known pilot signals inthe one or more identified downlink unicast slots to obtain a signalpower measurement of the received signal, wherein using known pilotsignals in the one or more identified downlink unicast slots to obtain asignal power measurement of the received signal comprises: using knowncell-specific pilot signals in the one or more identified downlinkunicast slots and also known cell-specific pilot signals in one or moreof the Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots to obtain asignal power measurement of the received signal. 12-14. (canceled)
 15. Auser equipment (UE) in a cellular telecommunications system, the userequipment comprising: logic circuitry configured to receive a signalfrom a neighboring cell; logic circuitry configured to detect acharacteristic of the received signal; logic circuitry configured to usethe detected characteristic as an indicator in a blind detection processthat relies on characteristic differences between uplink and downlinkslots to identify one or more downlink slots in the received signal; andlogic circuitry configured to use known pilot signals in the identifiedone or more downlink slots to obtain a signal power measurement of thereceived signal, wherein: the detected characteristic is a detectedinformation content of resource elements of the received signal known tobe reference symbol resource elements in a downlink subframe, whereineach resource element is defined by subcarrier frequency and time ofoccurrence; and the blind detection process comprises correlating thedetected information content with information content of one or moreknown reference symbols.
 16. A user equipment (UE) in a cellulartelecommunications system, the user equipment comprising: logiccircuitry configured to receive a signal from a neighboring cell; logiccircuitry configured to detect a characteristic of the received signal;logic circuitry configured to use the detected characteristic as anindicator in a blind detection process that relies on characteristicdifferences between uplink and downlink slots to identify one or moredownlink slots in the received signal; and logic circuitry configured touse known pilot signals in the identified one or more downlink slots toobtain a signal power measurement of the received signal, wherein: thedetected characteristic is a detected automatic gain control settingused to receive the received signal; and the blind detection processcomprises comparing the detected automatic gain control setting with anautomatic gain control setting of a known downlink slot. 17-19.(canceled)
 20. A user equipment (UE) in a cellular telecommunicationssystem having a radio interface that comprises a plurality of downlinkslots of which some of the plurality of downlink slots are downlinkunicast slots and some of the plurality of downlink slots areMulticast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots, the user equipmentcomprising: logic circuitry configured to receive a signal from aneighboring cell during one or more of the plurality of downlink slots;logic circuitry configured to detect a characteristic of the receivedsignal; logic circuitry configured to use the detected characteristic asan indicator in a blind detection process that relies on characteristicdifferences between the downlink unicast slots and theMulticast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots to identify one ormore of the downlink unicast slots that may be present in the one ormore of the plurality of downlink slots; and logic circuitry configuredto use known pilot signals in the one or more identified downlinkunicast slots to obtain a signal power measurement of the receivedsignal in response to the one or more identified downlink unicast slotsbeing identified in the one or more of the plurality of downlink slots,wherein: the detected characteristic is a detected information contentof resource elements of the received signal known to be reference symbolresource elements in a downlink subframe, wherein each resource elementis defined by subcarrier frequency and time of occurrence; and the blinddetection process comprises correlating the detected information contentwith information content of one or more known reference symbols.
 21. Auser equipment (UE) in a cellular telecommunications system having aradio interface that comprises a plurality of downlink slots of whichsome of the plurality of downlink slots are downlink unicast slots andsome of the plurality of downlink slots are Multicast-Broadcast SingleFrequency Network slots, the user equipment comprising: logic circuitryconfigured to receive a signal from a neighboring cell during one ormore of the plurality of downlink slots; logic circuitry configured todetect a characteristic of the received signal; logic circuitryconfigured to use the detected characteristic as an indicator in a blinddetection process that relies on characteristic differences between thedownlink unicast slots and the Multicast-Broadcast Single FrequencyNetwork slots to identify one or more of the downlink unicast slots thatmay be present in the one or more of the plurality of downlink slots:and logic circuitry configured to use known pilot signals in the one ormore identified downlink unicast slots to obtain a signal powermeasurement of the received signal in response to the one or moreidentified downlink unicast slots being identified in the one or more ofthe plurality of downlink slots, wherein: the detected characteristic isa detected automatic gain control setting used to receive the receivedsignal; and the blind detection process comprises comparing the detectedautomatic gain control setting with an automatic gain control setting ofa known downlink slot.
 22. A user equipment (UE) in a cellulartelecommunications system having a radio interface that comprises aplurality of downlink slots of which some of the plurality of downlinkslots are downlink unicast slots and some of the plurality of downlinkslots are Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots, the userequipment comprising: logic circuitry configured to receive a signalfrom a neighboring cell during one or more of the plurality of downlinkslots; logic circuitry configured to detect a characteristic of thereceived signal; logic circuitry configured to use the detectedcharacteristic as an indicator in a blind detection process that relieson characteristic differences between the downlink unicast slots and theMulticast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots to identify one ormore of the downlink unicast slots that may be present in the one ormore of the plurality of downlink slots; and logic circuitry configuredto use known pilot signals in the one or more identified downlinkunicast slots to obtain a signal power measurement of the receivedsignal in response to the one or more identified downlink unicast slotsbeing identified in the one or more of the plurality of downlink slots,wherein the logic circuitry configured to use known pilot signals in theone or more identified downlink unicast slots to obtain a signal powermeasurement of the received signal comprises: logic circuitry configuredto use known cell-specific pilot signals in the one or more identifieddownlink unicast slots and also known cell-specific pilot signals in oneor more of the Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network slots toobtain a signal power measurement of the received signal.